By
Steve Muchoki
April 19th, 2024
After successful registration with UK’s top financial regulator, PayPal is all set to offer crypto trading facilities to its UK customers.
Today, on August 23, financial giant PayPal Holdings Inc (NYSE: PYPL) announced that it expanding the scope of its crypto trading services outside America, and now in Britain. Meaning all UK-based customers of PayPal can buy, hold, and sell digital currencies starting this week.
As said, this is also the first international expansion from PayPal. Last year in October 2021, PayPal launched its crypto trading service for the first time in the US. Customers in the UK can access PayPal’s crypto trading service on both – the website and trading app.
This service shall be initially limited only to four cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Interestingly, the decision comes as British regulators have stepped up their crypto regulatory measures. But the recent move comes after PayPal managed to secure the Financial Conduct Authority registration earlier this month.
Jose Fernandez da Ponte, vice president and general manager for blockchain, crypto, and digital currencies at PayPal, added that this new service will bring more people closer to cryptocurrencies. He said:
“Our global reach, digital payments expertise, and knowledge of consumer and businesses, combined with rigorous security and compliance controls provides us the unique opportunity, and the responsibility, to help people in the UK to explore cryptocurrency.
We are committed to continue working closely with regulators in the UK, and around the world, to offer our support and meaningfully contribute to shaping the role digital currencies will play in the future of global finance and commerce.”
PayPal Facilities Offered to UK Customers
It’s been almost 10 months that PayPal has been offering its crypto trading services to clients. PayPal charges its clients for transactions and currency conversion. However, it doesn’t charge the clients for HODLing the digital assets.
Currently, in the US, PayPal charges 50 cents for any transactions under $25. These charges go up to 1.5% of the transaction value for purchases above $1,000. For now, PayPal customers can’t send their cryptos to other wallets. They can only spend on purchases made through the app. However, PayPal has vouched to change the structure going ahead.
With 2 million active monthly users, the UK proves to be a good destination for PayPal. It is not clear whether if PayPal will allow UK customers to make crypto payments to merchants. PayPal is confident that it will address concerns regarding the volatility of digital assets.
All the settlements at the merchant’s end will happen in fiat cash. Thus, merchants don’t need to take the risk of price volatility to themselves. Just like the US, PayPal will rely on Paxos, a New York-regulated crypto firm.
PayPal is also looking to expand its services in other regions of Europe. The company is looking to expand its operations in Ireland. Besides, apart from just crypto trading, PayPal is looking to step into the decentralized finance (DeFi) market.